The object of the present invention is the use of aluminium chloride as a resveratrol synthesis elicitor in crop plants and edible products thereof, and in particular vine, grapes, grape juice and wine.
It is known that certain plants, such as the vine in particular, can synthesise, in response to a stress such as an ultra-violet light ray irradiation or a parasitic infection, natural molecules which enable them to adapt themselves to this stress. One of the principal constituents of these natural molecules is resveratrol (trans-3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene).
It is also known that resveratrol possesses particularly interesting pharmacological properties which are usable notably in the prevention or in the treatment of certain human illnesses.
Thus, this molecule which may also be extracted from the roots of Polygonum cuspidatum is used notably in popular traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine in the treatment of hyperlipemia, arteriosclerosis, inflammatory illnesses and allergic illnesses.
Various studies have in fact demonstrated that resveratrol decreases platelet aggregation and exerts a protective effect vis-a-vis the oxidation of plasma lipoproteins, these two latter factors being implicated in the mechanisms of artherothrombogenesis which can lead to myocardial infarction.
The protective effect of resveratrol vis-a-vis the oxidation of plasma lipoproteins is particularly high, since it has been demonstrated that this effect is much more significant than that procured by vitamin E (.alpha.-tocopherol) which is considered to be a powerful natural anti-oxidising agent.
It has also been suggested that resveratrol could furnish a protection vis-a-vis cancer due to its anti-radical properties against free radicals implicated in the phenomena of cellular cancerisation.
Given the beneficial role exertable by resveratrol in the field of human health, it seems interesting to be able to have a simple means at one's disposal which enables increasing the resveratrol content of certain edible products.